KAMPALA, Uganda

The Ugandan government on Tuesday dismissed accusations that it is targeting the political opposition following last week’s presidential elections.

In a statement, Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi acknowledged that arrests had taken place but said they were limited to individuals who had caused “problems.”

Baryomunsi explained that there were two categories of arrests, with the first including those who “wanted to cause violence simply because the candidate they supported lost the elections,” and the second involving "criminal gangs who were mobilized by their leaders to turn this election period as launching time to cause civil unrest in the country.”

“The category that was plotting such kind of violence has been arrested and those that are on the run will be got and apprehended as the law requires,” he added.

In the days immediately after the elections, security agencies allegedly ramped up their pursuit of opposition supporters.

Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, has been in hiding since incumbent President Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner of the Jan. 15 presidential polls. Official results showed Museveni winning with 71% of the vote, while Wine received 24%.

Wine rejected the results as “fake,” alleging electoral fraud. He has claimed a “silent massacre” is underway and that his supporters are being targeted, saying on social media that more than 100 people were killed in election-related violence, without providing evidence.

His comments followed remarks by Uganda’s army chief, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba — Museveni’s son and a potential successor — who said security forces had killed 22 opposition “terrorists” during poll-related unrest.

David Lewis Rubongoya, secretary-general of Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP), said several party leaders are either missing or under arrest across the country.

In his victory speech on Sunday, Museveni described the NUP as “terrorists,” accusing the party of attempting to use violence to overturn the election results.

US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch called the elections “a hollow exercise, staged to legitimize President Yoweri Museveni’s seventh term and four decades in power.”

“But even more so than Tanzania, Uganda is a key regional security partner to the United States. Yet, its ruling regime prioritizes domestic control through political violence, abductions, imprisonment, intimidation of opponents, and the misuse of state resources to maintain its grip on power,” Risch noted.

He urged the Trump administration to review its relations with Uganda, “beginning with a review of whether sanctions are warranted under existing authorities against specific actors, including General Muhoozi Kainerugaba.”

Uganda has not experienced a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence in 1962, though Museveni’s supporters credit him with maintaining relative stability and economic growth.